What if The Man Who Would Be King
by Katy M VT
Summary: What if Castiel had done everything differently?  AU.  Chapter 3 of 3 up.
1. Chapter 1

What if Castiel had done everything differently?

Castiel looked down. He was confused as to how he could look down or anywhere for that matter. Lucifer had exploded him. He had died twice. And both times he had been blown to smithereens. He wondered what the odds were of that. The only thing he knew for sure was that the only one who could bring back a dead angel was God. He had to have been saved for a purpose.

Because of that, he decided he needed to stop focusing on himself. He could see Dean a few feet in front of him. He was kneeling in the middle of the field. Castiel could only assume that there used to be a hole there. One that Sam had jumped into with Lucifer.

"Dean," he said when he had walked up behind Dean and stood there for a few seconds with no acknowledgement.

"Cas? Are you God?" Dean asked.

Castiel smiled. "That's a nice compliment, but no. He did bring me back though. Better than ever." Castiel knew there was nothing he could do for Dean's main source of pain, but he touched him, healing all his broken bones and erasing every bruise. He even cleaned up all the blood.

Dean just looked at him. Castiel could tell that he didn't even care how bad he felt. All he cared about was missing his brother. Once again, Castiel lamented the fact that he couldn't heal that greatest of all pains. There was something he could do, though. He walked back to the spot where he saw Bobby lying dead on the grass.

He touched him and Bobby got up and looked around in as much confusion as Castiel had felt a few minutes ago.

"What happened?" Bobby asked.

"Sam did it," Dean choked out. "He managed to take over from Lucifer and jumped in the hole. Michael tried to stop him and Sam pulled him in, too."

"Michael's in the cage, too?" Castiel asked.

"Yeah, Dean said. He didn't want to talk about it any longer. He was glad that Bobby was alive. He really was. But he just couldn't feel glad about it right now. He had a bigger loss to feel. He nodded across the field at Bobby and Cas and hopped into the Impala. It was hard to see out the window because of where Lucifer had thrown him on it, but he was going to drive as well as he could. He was going to go to Bobby's. When Sam had died the first time, he had totally shut Bobby out. When he had died, Sam had ditched Bobby. It wasn't fair. Bobby had been mourning both of those times, too. They were all the family they had. They should help each other get through this. But, right now, for a few hours, he needed to be alone.

He had been driving for about ten minutes when Cas popped in beside him. "So, what are you going to do now?" Dean asked.

Castiel had come to check on Dean. He had been around for millennia and he had never seen two closer brothers. He wasn't sure how Dean was going to go on. But apparently Dean didn't want to talk about that. "I guess I'll go up to Heaven."

He stayed and talked with Dean for a few more minutes. Dean was angry and Castiel understood, but he couldn't do anything to make him not angry. He headed up to Heaven. He went to his favorite Heaven and watched its inhabitant flying the kite. It was so peaceful. A bunch of his friends entered.

"Castiel? How are you here? We saw Lucifer kill you," Rachel said.

"God brought me back," Castiel said.

"He must want you to lead us," Rachel concluded.

"No, He wants you to lead yourselves," Castiel said.

SSS

Castiel had received a summons from Raphael. He went to find him.

"You came. That took guts. I can appreciate that," Raphael said.

"What do you want?" Castiel asked.

"Pledge allegiance to me or die," Raphael threatened.

"What are you going to do?" Castiel asked.

"The first order of business will be to free Lucifer and Michael and get the Apocalypse going again."

"No, we can't do that," Castiel protested.

"Why not? It's God's will."

"How can you say that? God brought me back—twice. It can't be his will."

"Be here tomorrow and pledge your allegiance to me or die," Raphael said, ending their meeting.

Castiel couldn't do that, but at least he had a 24 hour head start. That wasn't going to be a lot when angels were involved.

He went down to Earth. He did the only thing he could think of and went to Dean's new home. He stayed invisible and just watched Dean raking leaves. Dean hadn't given up so much. Sacrificed pretty much everything. It didn't seem right to bring his problem to him. He wasn't sure what Dean could do anyway. Of course, he wouldn't have thought the Winchesters would have been able to have done half of what they had done.

While he was still trying to make up his mind, Crowley joined him on the lawn. "What are you doing here?" Castiel asked.

"I want to help you to help me to help us."

Castiel hated all demons. He hated crossroads demons most of all. They were the worst because they got otherwise good people to damn themselves to Hell and they did it all with charm and making you feel that you were doing the right thing. "Speak plainly," Castiel said.

"You have a problem upstairs."

"How do you know about that?" What happens in Heaven stays in Heaven.

"I have my ways," Crowley said enigmatically. "The point is, I can help you."

"How?"

"It's all about the souls. We can find Purgatory and tap millions of unused souls."

"I'm not going to use souls," Castiel said after only a moment's hesitation. He was glad they were having this conversation here, because otherwise, he would have been tempted. He couldn't contemplate such an atrocious course of action in Dean's presence. Didn't matter that he couldn't see or hear them.

"Fine. It's your funeral," Crowley said and vanished.

Castiel took one last look at Dean and left him alone.


	2. Chapter 2

Castiel spent the next three weeks working on cloaking himself from angels. There were many different ways to do it, and he made sure that he used every single one. Carving sidgils on his own ribs was the worst, though. He couldn't believe he had done that to two humans. It must have really hurt them.

Now, he had to figure out how to stop Raphael and his cronies from freeing Lucifer and Michael. He knew that it hadn't been done yet. In order to figure out how to stop them, he needed to figure out how they were going to do it.

He went to all the great libraries of the world. Some of them were buried under a mile of rubble. He spent three months researching. Checking periodically to make sure that he wasn't too late. He learned that this time the seals were not placed over the lock. To unlock it was fairly simple. The good news was that no angel could pass through the door once it had been closed again. That meant Michael and Lucifer were trapped down there.

Castiel sighed a breath of relief. Sam hadn't died for nothing. But thinking of Sam made him realize something. No angel could pass through the door again. It didn't say anything about humans. All he needed to do was open the door and somehow get Sam out without going in himself. It would be dangerous for him, but if he even had a chance of saving Sam, he had to try.

Six months had passed since Sam had saved the world. That was sixty years in Hell. And not just Hell, but a cage filled with only him, Lucifer, Michael, and Adam. It would have been terrible. Castiel knew he couldn't waste another minute.

He went to Dean's house. He noted that Dean had salt lines and devil's traps, but nothing to keep out angels. He found the horsemen's rings. He took them and zapped back to that cemetery in Lawrence. It was as good a place to open it as anywhere else. He threw the rings down to the ground and said the words that would open the pit. He stood well back, not wanting to fall in.

He grabbed two very, very long ropes. They were each twenty miles long. Of course, nothing like that had actually existed. Being an angel had advantages. He knew he only had one shot at this. The rings would only work three times. It had been used once by Dean to open the cage before Sam had been able to take over and once by Sam to jump in. There was only one shot left.

Castiel threw the ropes in, holding on tightly to the others. "Sam! Adam! Tie these around yourselves and pull when you've done so!" He yelled in his loudest angelic voice. He had etched Enokian symbols on the other ends of the rope, so angels could only touch the top half. Lucifer and Michael wouldn't be able to touch the ropes.

He felt tugs on both of them and used one hand each to pull them up. Again, being an angel had its advantages. He wasn't pulling on them at even rates, though. He was right-handed, and even with angels that meant his right arm was significantly stronger. He soon saw Sam crawling over the edge. He lay down a few feet from the edge panting.

Seconds later Adam was just beginning to climb out when the rope broke. They heard him screaming as he fell to the bottom again. Castiel ran to Sam and untied that rope to throw it back in, but it was too late. His time was up and the hole closed.

"Open it again!" Sam yelled.

"I can't, Sam. I only had the one shot."

Sam sighed. Once again, he had been saved at someone else's expense. He didn't really like Adam. In a torture situation like that, it's every man for himself, but he knew he would be different up here. Or at least he assumed he would. Besides, he wouldn't have wished that cage on his worst, worst, worst enemy. Not even the yellow-eyed demon, or Ruby, or Brady or Gordon.

"I am sorry, Sam."

"That's OK, I know you tried. So, it was sixty years down there. That means six months up here, right?" Sam asked.

"Right," Castiel confirmed. "How are you?"

"Don't ask stupid questions," Sam said, remembering that once, a lifetime ago, Castiel had said that to him.

"Where do you want to go?" Castiel asked. He could see that Sam wasn't going to be able to go anywhere on his own. He was still laying on the ground where he had crawled and didn't show any signs of moving soon.

"Dean?" Sam asked. He knew it was selfish. He had made Dean promise to go be with Lisa and Ben and have a normal life. If he showed up, it would destroy that life. But now more than any other time, he needed his big brother.

"Of course," Castiel said. He wondered why he had even bothered asking. He knew that this would destroy Dean's new life, but he knew that Dean would want Sam back more than anything. He reached down and touched Sam's forehead.

(A/N: Sorry about Adam, but I just wasn't sure what I would do with him)


	3. Chapter 3

Dean was eating breakfast with Lisa and Ben. He had had a dream about Sam last night. Not a nightmare, finally. A dream. He had dreamt of when they had met that girl, Sarah. He wasn't sure why. It was kind of random. Sam had never even mentioned her ever again. But, he had been happy for a couple of days and it was the first time Dean had seen a spark of "slightly less loneliness" in Sam since Jessica had died. That had to have been why.

"Um, guys," Ben said.

Dean turned around to see Cas standing there with Sam half sitting-half lying down at his feet.

"Cas? Is that..?" He couldn't bring himself to ask. It was probably a demon, or shape-shifter, or maybe even Lucifer.

"It's Sam," Castiel said.

"Are you sure?"

"Of course," Castiel said, wondering why on earth Dean would question him on this. Didn't he want his brother back? Maybe he had been mistaken in bringing Sam here.

Sam slowly pushed himself to his feet. The sight of Dean gave him some energy. He took a tentative step towards him.

Dean quickly closed the distance and pulled him into a hug. Sam hadn't been touched in forever without the purpose being to cause him pain. He shrank away for a moment and then recognized this as different and hugged back.

Lisa tapped Ben on the shoulder and nodded to the door. They shouldn't be intruding on this. There would be time for them later.

Castiel wondered if he should leave, too. Dean and Sam finally broke their hold on each other. "How?" Dean asked.

"I found out that angels couldn't get past the cage once it had been opened a second time, but humans could. I used the rings to open the door and threw ropes down for Sam and Adam."

"So, Adam is OK, too?" Dean asked.

"No, the rope broke," Castiel admitted.

"Well, go back for him!" Dean yelled.

"I can't. I'm sorry."

Dean was going to yell again, but Cas had given him Sam back. He couldn't ask for more.

"I have to go," Castiel said.

"What else is new?" Dean muttered. Sam might need some healing or something.

"I am hiding from Raphael. He wants to kill me," Castiel explained and disappeared.

"I'm hungry," Sam said. He knew it sounded whiney but he didn't care. He didn't want to be hungry. He didn't want to be hot. He didn't want to be cold. He didn't want to be in pain. He didn't want to be thirsty. Never again.

"Sure, what do you want?" Dean asked.

"I don't care," Sam said. He just wanted to eat. Dean had only taken two bites of his breakfast, so he handed that to Sam.

Sam wolfed it down in about three seconds. Dean thought that looked more like him eating than Sam.

"Want more?" he asked.

"No. I'm tired. Is there somewhere I can sleep?"

"Sure," Dean said, not sure where. There were only two bedrooms in this house and he didn't want to stick Sam on the couch. He decided to let Sam sleep in his and Lisa's bed. If Lisa had a problem with it, he would deal with it later.

He led him upstairs to his room.

"This must be your room," Sam protested. He didn't want to take their bed.

"It's OK," Dean reassured him. "Do you need anything?"

Sam shook his head. He kicked off his shoes and started to get in bed. "You don't need to stay." He realized he sounded ungrateful, but he had not had one moment alone in the last sixty years. There were four of them stuck in a very small cage. It was deep, but it was not wide or long. There was no privacy.

"Yeah, sure," Dean said. "Call if you need anything."

He went downstairs. Ben and Lisa were coming in the door. "How is he?" Lisa asked.

"I don't know," Dean answered honestly.

SSS

"So, there is no way to get them out of the cage," Raphael asked.

"No, that's what we've found," his underling informed him.

"Fine. Then we will just take over the earth," Raphael decided.

"Shouldn't be too hard to take over a bunch of dirty humans."

"No, but we need to eliminate Castiel first. He could become a rallying point and get other angels to defy us," Raphael said.

"We've been looking for him and he has clearly cloaked himself. We know that he got Sam Winchester out of the cage, but by the time we popped down there he had gone."

"Well, we'll go get something he wants."

"What?"

"The Winchesters," Raphael said and grinned evilly.

SSS

Sam was sleeping when he felt a hand on him. He opened his eyes and saw a man leaning over him. But he knew it wasn't a man. The hand burned him. He figured that whole resuce thing was a trick. He was still in the cage. This was Lucifer or Michael. This was how they always started. He screamed. More out of frustration than anything else. Making him think he had escaped was too cruel.

"What was that?" Lisa asked.

"Stay here," Dean said and ran up the stairs. He figured Sam was having a nightmare. He knew about post-Hell nightmares better than anyone. Sam had been down there longer and in a worse situation. It was no surprise.

What was a surprise was a man standing over Sam when he rushed in. "Who are you? What are you?"

"I'm an angel."

"Great," Dean rolled his eyes.

"Pray for Castiel or I kill him."

Dean figured if he called for Cas he would be signing his death warrant. That wouldn't be a very nice way to repay the man who had rescued his brother from Hell. Of course that rescue wouldn't be worth much if Sam was dead.

The angel burned Sam again. Sam just whimpered this time. He had been getting a lot worse the last few decades.

"Cas!" Dean yelled. "Please come. Sam needs help." He hated himself for selling Cas out like that. But what choice did he have.

Castiel appeared and plunged a sword into the angel.

"How did you know?" Dean asked.

"I just knew."

"Will more angels come?"

"Probably," Castiel answered.

"What should we do?" Sam asked. He wasn't really keen on angels, especially after the last sixty years with Lucifer and Michael.

"We should leave," Castiel said. He touched both Sam and Dean and they popped up at Bobby's.

"What the hell?" Bobby asked.

"We're hiding from angels," Dean said.

"Is that Sam?" Bobby asked, more concerned about that than anything else.

"Yeah."

"How is he?" Bobby asked.

"I'm right here. You don't have to talk about me like I'm not," Sam groused.

"Sorry," Bobby said. "So, why are you hiding from angels?"

"I think now that they know they can't get Lucifer and Michael out of the cage, they are going to try to take over the Earth. We need to stop them."

"Oh, is that all?" Bobby asked.

"We've done the impossible before," Dean said and smiled. As long as they were all a team, they could do anything.

The End


End file.
